


A shadow of the shadow

by WahlBuilder



Series: Doctor and Thief [3]
Category: Thief (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 14:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4838261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WahlBuilder/pseuds/WahlBuilder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The City is changing, and Alec knows who is the reason of the change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A shadow of the shadow

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [A Shadow of the Shadow - Доктор и Вор. История третья. Тень во плоти](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7347412) by [Altra_Realta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Altra_Realta/pseuds/Altra_Realta)



The City was changing. This process didn't have a final point or a goal. The City was stuck in the process itself, shifting, shifting. Alec found his table standing in a different corner of his bedroom, the walls creaked and hissed around him, and metal spiders prowled the streets instead of guards of flesh and bones. Sirens wailed every night and then blood gurgled in their throats.

'There is another me, different, and I don't know him. I see things I shouldn't see, ghosts and men caught on fire and still walking.'

Alec saw ghosts, too, they walked into his house, begging for help, and he covered his ears, unable to stop their pleas.

The City was shifting. The bell on the Clock Tower roared at nights, and then a few hours into his roar Alec looked up and the tower wasn't there anymore, only its voice was filling the streets and shattering the stones. Some nights Alec clawed the door of his house open, other nights he punched in the code to get in. It changed every time, but Alec knew it anyway.

He had forgotten how the sun looked like. He thought he had hallucinated the sun.

The core of this shift, the bleeding heart of it was the man with black hands. Alec measured time by his visits, and his vision swam when he looked at the shadow made flesh.

His eyes were boring into Alec. Changing. Changing. One of them was full of the light of blue-white flowers Alec saw in his dreams, and the next moment, it clicked and hissed softly, lenses adjusting as Alec applied black paint under his lower eyelids and smeared it over his lips. Alec had tried to wash away the paint, but gave up. His hands were turning black.

'I look around and can't recognise anything — but _he_ can. I wonder if I'm going mad.'

'We all are. We all are mad already,' Alec said as he wrapped the dark scarf around the shadow's neck, then cupped his face.

'Who am I?'

'Garrett,' Alec answered simply.

Pale lips broke into a smile. 'Is Garrett enough for the City?'

'He is enough for me.'

The shadow closed his eyes, but the blue glowing illuminated one of them from within, making small blood vessels visible. 'Go. Leave the City.'

Alec kept silent. He knew there was nothing except the City.

The black-handed man slouched, then straightened back again, looking at Alec. 'I have a new job. Should I bring you anything?'

'Bring me yourself back in one piece.'

A small chuckle made a new crack appear in the reality. 'Will do. Are you sure you don't need anything else?'

'My scalpel is broken.'

The shadow nodded, pulling the scarf up to cover his face and then putting the hood on. Alec took a step back, making room for the man to stand. Then called, 'Garrett!'

The Master-Thief nodded, the lenses in his eye hissing, and embraced the shadows, disappering in them. 'Until we meet again, Alec.'

Alec shook his head and smiled. 'Don't make me wait for too long.'


End file.
